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Re-Opening & Recovery

Victoria moves to open public spaces for private use

Businesses in the City of Victoria are being encouraged to expand their footprints to take advantage of public spaces. Applications open today for stores and restaurants that could benefit by opening up their business to the sidewalk, street, parking area or public park.

“We are unleashing the creativity of our community to build back by opening up space for businesses to expand while meeting social distancing requirements. These sweeping new programs are informed by what we have heard from businesses, artists and community groups for what’s needed for recovery right now,” Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said in a news release.

The move could be a lifesaver for some businesses that need more customers to be viable than they could achieve with limited indoor seating.

To learn more about the city's Build Back Victoria initiative, a virtual town hall is planned for tomorrow from 6:30 to 8 pm.

City of Victoria: Member since 1962

Saanich moves to open outdoors for businesses

The District of Saanich is also working to help businesses expand into appropriate outdoor spaces. Saanich council directed staff to tell the BC Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch that the municipality wants to allow businesses to expand their services outside. The provincial regulator simplified the process in May to help restaurants and pubs meet requirements for physical distancing.

Uptown Shopping Centre is among the Saanich businesses that are hoping the new rules will help more customers safely patronize business. Uptown Boulevard c losed to traffic on May 15 and is looking to use the roadway as expanded space for its commercial tenants.

Shape Property Management - Uptown: Member since 1983

District of Saanich: Member since 2018

Reason for optimism but recovery will be slow road

There are signs that Canada's economy is moving into recovery, with 289,600 jobs created between May 10 and May 16. However, there is still a long way to go as there are 2.7 million fewer jobs than in February.

British Columbia accounted for 43,300 jobs created in May, though 353,200 have been lost since the pandemic began.

"It’s re-assuring to see job growth this month, which lines up with other positive data, such as the uptick we saw in consumer confidence last month," says the Conference Board of Canada. "Given re-openings across the country continue to gain steam, job growth should accelerate in June."

BC's handling of pandemic puts spotlight on top doc

British Columbia is being touted as a model for managing the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to a glowing profile of Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry in the New York Times.

The news story chronicles Dr. Henry's career and praises her leadership in keeping the disease in check, without resorting to heavy-handed directives.

Clear communication and decisive action helped our province go from being the first blindsided by COVID to where we are now — managing a safe and balanced return to the economy.

On behalf of all of our members, The Chamber thanks Dr. Henry for her work handling COVID-19. Those efforts have put us in great place for businesses to restart successfully.

In our May 8 Fireside Chat with BC Government and Public Service Leader Jamie Sawchuk of Deloitte, we heard that jurisdictions with the most successful public health approaches are proving to have the best economic recoveries.

Deloitte Canada: Member since 2015

Open for Business — Chamber directory style

To help locals looking to support businesses in the region, we want to make it easier to find businesses that are open and ready to provide products or services.

You'll see on our Chamber online business directory that we've added an Open icon for businesses. Details on how the business has adapted and/or new hours will appear in Products and Services at the bottom of the listing. We've also enhanced the SEO keywords on these listings to get you noticed.

Do you have updated business hours or services? ​ Contact us for your Open Icon and enhanced directory listing.

Virtual Tailgate Business Mixer with HarbourCats

Join us for a virtual tailgate party and support the Victoria HarbourCats!

Attendees are encouraged to wear a Victoria HarbourCats hat while they network. If you don't already have one, click here to gets yours before the event.

After the mixer grab some takeout from one of our awesome local restaurants and watch a replay of the July 19, 2018 game against the Corvallis Knights.

Virtual Tailgate Mixer

Wed., June 17 | 5- 6pm

Zoom

Connecting employers with employees today

The Chamber is proud to have featured more than 200 jobs on our job board since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis.

 

We're already starting to see a change in the jobs offered as BC gets back to work. As of June 15, we look forward to returning to the job board being an exclusive benefit of Chamber membership.

 

If you have any difficulty posting, please email [email protected] . We will get back to you within one business day. We know how important hiring the right person can be.

 

All jobs posted to our job board have been vetted by a member of The Chamber team.

Don't let self isolation make you feel alone

The Chamber has a myriad of resources to help you and your business. You can connect with our staff or schedule a virtual coffee with one of our Ambassadors to talk about your business and next steps on our road to recovery.

We're #InItTogetherYYJ even if we can't be together. We look forward to talking with you soon about how we can help.

Let us know about updates to your hours or services

We've created a webpage to help your customers keep track of updated hours and services as a result of COVID-19. If your changes are not yet listed, email [email protected] to have your information added.